In a bid to increase its passenger share, Air India on Tuesday launched a service to connect the industrial city of Kanpur with Delhi and Kolkata as part of its plan to connect tier-II cities with metros.

“Air India is making efforts to connect major cities such as Kanpur with metros where there is a high demand. If the occupancy remains high, the national carrier plans to connect it with Mumbai and Ahmedabad soon”, the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Vayalar Ravi, said at Chakeri Airport here.

The airline is operating the flight AI-9801 with a 70-seater CRJ (Canadian Regional Jet) aircraft, which on Tuesday had an occupancy of 50 from Delhi.

The Kanpur-Kolkata leg was flagged off by Mr Ravi and the Union Coal Minister, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, who represents Kanpur in the Lok Sabha.

New building

On demand from locals for a new terminal building, Mr Ravi said the Indian Air Force, which controls the airport, has given four acres for the purpose.

Mr Jaiswal said the reasons for delay in launching the flights had been sorted out and the airport at Kanpur would gradually see more flights.

Asked about issues such as wild animals including Neelgais straying into the runway, Mr Ravi said the Air Force would have to take effective steps to prevent such occurrences.

The average fare for a Delhi-Kokata direct flight is Rs 6,000 which goes up as the seats are booked.

But Air India would be offering a seat at Rs 4,000 on the Delhi-Kanpur-Kolkata route with little chance of escalation of fare.

The company expects that operating small planes like the CRJ and the turbo prop ATRs would lower its operating costs due to the hefty concessions in landing and parking charges.

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